1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damper assembly of a glove box, and more particularly to a damper assembly comprising a fixing member made of a plastic material and attached to the rear part of a glove box, the fixing member having a fitting protrusion, and a damper having a fitting piece, through which the fitting protrusion is inserted, whereby the number of parts in the damper assembly is reduced, and instability of the glove box is prevented when the glove box is opened or closed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Into the instrument panel of an automobile is generally mounted a glove box for storing small articles. The glove box is mounted into the instrument panel in front of the front passenger seat of an automobile. The glove box is pivotably moved to or away from the passenger seat so that the glove box can be opened or closed.
Specifically, the instrument panel disposed at the passenger seat of the automobile has a space defined therein, in which the glove box is mounted in such a manner that the glove box is pivotably attached to the instrument panel at the lower part of the glove box.
The instrument panel of the automobile is equipped with a locking unit for locking the glove box so that the glove box is not opened when fully inserted into the instrument panel.
The glove box is equipped with a damper for reducing the opening or closing speed of the glove box door when used while being pivotably moved. Such dampers are disclosed in Korean Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1997-054283, Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-045110, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1990-071045, and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1994-069004.
The dampers disclosed in the above-mentioned documents are characterized in that each of the dampers is disposed on the side of the glove box, although the shapes and the fixing method of the dampers are different from each other.
When the damper is disposed at the side of the glove box, however, the storing capacity of the glove box is decreased.
Furthermore, the damper is exposed to the outside from the gap defined between the instrument panel and the glove box when the glove box is opened, which does not lend to an aesthetic appearance.
Recently, there has been adopted a structure in which the damper is fixed to the rear part of the glove box as shown in FIG. 1 in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a conventional damper assembly in which the damper is fixed to the rear part of the glove box.
To the rear part of the glove box 11 is fixed a bracket 13 as shown in FIG. 1. At the glove box 11 are formed fixing holes 12, and at the bracket 13 are formed through-holes 14, which correspond to the fixing holes 12 of the glove box, respectively. The fixing holes 12 and the corresponding through-holes 14 are provided to increase the fixing between the glove box 11 and the bracket 13.
To the bracket 13 is attached a damper 15 in such a manner that a fixing pin 16 is connected to the damper 15 through the bracket 13.
The damper 15 is an air damper having a cylindrical body containing air therein. The damper 15 is linked to the glove box 11 and the instrument panel so that the opening or closing speed of the glove box 11 is controlled when the glove box 11 is used.
In the conventional damper assembly, however, the bracket is made of a metal material while the glove box is made of a plastic material resulting in increased tolerance distribution, and thus, instability of the glove box occurs when the glove box is opened or closed.
Furthermore, the cost of manufacturing the damper assembly is increased since the bracket is made of a metal material. Additionally, the weight of the damper assembly is also increased.